A Robot not a Machine
by Felinis
Summary: It was easy to forget at times that Raven wasn't a person. Not that he wasn't alive! Just that he was… well… a robot. It's funny because he doesn't look human or anything of the sort but he was so opinionated and a person that it was easy to forget he wasn't a person.


**fel: don't tell anyone i worked on this instead of what i'm supposed to **

It was easy to forget at times that Raven wasn't a person. Not that he wasn't alive! Just that he was… well… a robot. It's funny because he doesn't look human or anything of the sort but he was so opinionated and a person that it was easy to forget he wasn't a person.

He was a machine.

And that's why right now, him staring blankly with lifeless eyes unmoving on the floor… it scared them.

Karol was poking his side calling at him to move and not scare them. "Come on Raven! This isn't funny!"

Ever since they arrived on Erd he'd been acting off but Yuri just figured he was getting antsy and worried like they all were since leaving Gren. Since… well, let's say nobody has had it in them to look at the wood millennium gummy.

Estelle hadn't stopped crying after the incident in the holy tree of Halure for almost three hours and while everyone had tried to comfort her collectively, they just decided it was best to let her cry it out before they moved on. How many people have died on their quest so far?

The water people on Cassia comes to mind immediately.

"Get yourself moving old man! We have to hurry before the space police get bright ideas!" Rita was pounding her fist against his hard metal side while everyone just shook their heads awkwardly. It took the robot who resided over the ancient computer below noticing them before they actually realized what had gone wrong.

"Battery depleted. Recharge in Kavhe Ruins."

They had known for a bit that Raven had to be running on reserves, after all, he'd gone over a month without a proper recharge and aside from seeming a little sleepy was perfectly normal. "Great how are we supposed to drag a two-ton robot all the way to who knows god where," Yuri huffed but Patty pointed out that they did, in fact, know where. It's where she and Estelle had stolen the rocket from after the ones they flew originally crashed here.

Hard.

"Great so we get to carry a two-ton robot through miles and miles of long rocky terrain that is primarily uphill. So much better."

"I will transfer minimal charge for transport. Battery depleted. Recharge in Kavhe Ruins." It's weird. The design while different is similar but all the robots here act nothing like him. They all act… like well… machines. Maybe it's because Raven has been a teacher for so long he's learned to act human and feel human.

Hell, everyone knows how much Raven hates sweets. It's the joyful irony in watching him have to down gummy frogs in battle. The green apple flavor is apparently worse than the soda flavor by a long shot to his circuits. "Rather that weird carbonation over overly sweet apple flavor any day. Hell, why are they sweet anyway? Green apples are tart!"

There was a clothing preference a desire for romance. Raven even liked to bath in water despite the rusting because the water made his paneling feel loosened before an oiling.

Long story short in comparison to every other robot on this planet Raven was different and seeing him act machine-like was… scary.

Karol curled his four fingers around Raven's somewhat clunky hand, "Raven…? You okay?"

He didn't say anything though instead flickering the lights in his eyes which they'd come to know over the years was his way of blinking. He was still and the normal bounce of his steps seemed heavy and mechanic. It was wrong.

Uncomfortable.

Not to mention the ruins were eerie and gross with cobwebs and the silence of nothing organic being inside. Nothing in the main areas anyway. Estelle and Patty get excited when they see the door they previously couldn't even hope to budge swings open for them but once inside the enthusiasm dims again.

The air inside is… it's humid. Sticky even with a sweet tang that makes everyone gag a little and enough that Karol curls his tail around his mouth. The floor is moist and some weird goo drips off the walls and even seals off doorways as they walk about. Gross. So gross. Not to mention sensation like they're being watched despite nobody being around.

It's lifeless like the rest of this place but still…

"I'd rather be hanging out with the spiny moles. The spiny moles are fun and it doesn't feel like a horror show is about to start up." Patty says as they make their way further into the center of the tower with the final doorway opening after Raven sets his hand on the keypad.

The entire actually acting like a robot thing just puts him so on edge, "Rita, once he's charged up the old man's gonna start being himself again right? Cuz this is creepy."

"How would I know?" Rita huffs and her eyes go wide when the door opens and Yuri's follow because holy fuck is this creepy. It looks like a bizarre generator full of charging stations and walls and floors covered in the same blue gooey substance that's been covering the walls till now. A giant hole in the center floor that has to go eighty- hell, way past a hundred meters down full with this stuff.

Estelle hums and rubs some of it between her fingers, "I think… I think this is a gummy core plant."

"No way! To get this many gummies… how many frogs would you have to kill to get this?" Karol exclaims yelling down the bottom of the pit hearing the echo back.

"These do not come from something so simple," a voice says from behind and everyone is surprised to see the yogart master themselves Khroma. "These are what's left of the people of Espresso after the robots and machines turned on their masters in order to sustain their power supply. Gummified mages are some of the strongest forms of energy to keep their power running."

The chill in the air seems to settle in deeper as they look at Raven, "Hey! I would never! I- I have been a faculty member on Kovamaka for almost three hundred years mind ya and I've never done anything like that!"

"ey

Nobody's accusing you of anything," Estelle says. "We all know you and you'd never hurt us."

Khroma's eyes sink in a sad and thoughtful way as her hand rubs against a machine that everyone is certain is a recharging station. "Oh, he may not today. But given time all robots will hunt humans for their energy."

Patty clicks her tongue, "Oh yeah, like Raven could ever."

A small shake of her head as she hovers over to the edge of the pit, "Once this bowl was filled to the brim, but now only a third of the stores remain of an entire civilization and then some. The Brownies, the Espresso people, even some of the Spiny Moles who live underground. That is merely the beginning. Every ten or so days a robot's battery runs dry and soon the stores will be empty and they will initiate the harvesting protocol. It is the fate of this universe growing old."

"Then the universe just has to be reborn." Rita is a blunt as ever, "According to the Book of the Darned new power will come when the sun is reborn with the universe and if that's the case we just need to kickstart the process."

Yuri's eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry? What? You read the Book of the Darned? The cursed book that we all agreed was a horrible idea to even touch? You read it!"

"Like you didn't see this coming. If Duke could read that book so can I and besides my life already sucks so what's a horrible curse that promises death gonna do that life already won't."

"That's no reason to read a cursed book," Estelle says crossing her arms rightfully angry at Rita for cursing herself just to read an old tome. "We've lost a lot of people since this journey and you can't be one of them! Not after Gren or Cassia or… You just can't!"

It was Raven's turn to step in, "Excuse me! But is anyone gonna help an old bot get charged up? I have maybe ten minutes of battery and right now it's driving me mad to be this low on fuel."

And suddenly they remembered why they were in this creepy ruin in the first place.

"That you should do. Take care of your friend but remember the tragedy and the other fate you should try to prevent in your journey." Khroma slowly drifted out of the room lingering on the door, "I do not recommend lingering long here. There is nothing but cursed gummies and damned souls left in this place."

The somber note lingers as they hook Raven in and charge him up in the machine suddenly back to bouncing and being happy. Back to being Raven. "Don't worry. I mean me doing that kinda awful stuff that programming would have been deleted a long while back at the academy."

They laugh it off as they keep moving and decide it probably be best to stop for the day. It's a long walk back towards the nearest towns and somebody… not to name names but Patty ate their last sugarstar before they could set up a warp gate. "I can't help it! They're like tasting candy and stars."

"It is literally candy-coated sugar." Yuri rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and the candy is star flavored. Don't act like you don't eat them."

But he really doesn't. Yuri finds them gross. "Whatever let's just get some sleep. We've been flying and fighting monsters all day and for once I am genuinely tapped out." He ended up using a fair amount of magic and per usual it left him drained. There's a weird irony to him being claimed as a magical prodigy given that Yuri isn't actually sure how his magic works or even how to control how his spells in terms of how much energy is consumed. He isn't even sure what makes the fire appears or even what happens when he used that one spell where he turns into a dragon for like ten seconds… He's really not sure why the academy let him in.

Raven snorts, "Says you. I could keep goin' all night."

"We're not robots who technically don't need sleep."

They make small talk over dinner till finally everyone curls up to sleep for the night. There's a palpable awkwardness in the air as they drift off Karol staring at Raven as he sits in the bed looking like he's asleep. He doesn't though. He just shuts himself off to conserve battery power most days but tonight Karol sees him sneak out of the inn and out into the cold dry air of Erd following behind hoping not to be noticed as Raven walks towards the rim of cliffs edge staring into the sky.

If he could breathe Karol is certain by the sag in his shoulders he'd hear a sigh.

He tries to give Raven his privacy but Karol ends up tripping and calling himself out, "I'm sorry! I'll go. You probably want to be alone anyway."

"Nah. Stick around kiddo. Yer fine." Raven pats the ground next to him as he takes a seat. Hesitantly Karol pads himself up next to him and sits down curling his tail around his legs.

What does he say? Should he say anything?

"I knew."

Huh?

"I didn't want to say it back at the ruins but I knew about… well, ya know the whole robot uprising thing."

Karol tugs a little at the hem of his fingerless gloves, "You wouldn't do it. I know it. We know it. You're a good person, Raven."

"You've got too much faith in me." He chuckles.

"I have just as much as I think you deserve!"

"I ever tell ya what I was doing before I was a professor? I was being used as a display piece in a Curios Antique Shop and the owner was planning to scrap me soon if nobody showed interest."

Karol tilts his head, tail flopping a little against the ground, "So?"

"My outer coating isn't bronze its rust. I shouldn't technically be able ta move let alone use magic but by some miracle, I can use it… and I have... what you guys call a personality." Raven holds up his hand the joints flexing slowly as he makes a fist and then splays them out. "I'm not sure it's real. It's all a bunch of code and I've had a couple hundred years to look myself over. Duke said it… and Alexei said it."

"You did know them best."

A shrug. "Ehhh, not as much as ya think. School said powering me full time was expensive so I took a lot of breaks. Sometimes decades. But, before Alexei went rogue and started this whole crazy power-hungry ruler of the universe tirade he asked me if I knew how long."

"Do you- do you know?"

Raven looked away and smiled in sadly with the light in his eyes. It's hard to read him often given that he doesn't have a typical face but spend enough time and you learn all the little ticks of his machinery and were the heartache is. "I wouldn't tell ya if I did. But I know I'll do it. I know it's hardwired in me to kill people. To obtain fuel at any cost even if it means deleting every other function in me that can feel."

"Then we'll fix you! We can always-" Raven shakes his head and ruffles Karol's hair.

"You're a good kid. Don't lose that."

Karol pulls him into a hug not minding one bit that Raven's body is cold and hard, uninviting you could even say and trying not to cry. "I don't want you to go! We can't lose you! I won't let you after all Brave Vesperia never give up!"

"I want you to promise me," Karol shakes his head furiously, "If I do anything to hurt ya guys and if you can't snap me back if it seems I'm no longer there destroy me any way you can. Hell cut, my wires and cut my head off again if ya have to!"

"I just don't want that protocol to activate. I don't want to be a machine."

_There's a difference between a robot and a machine_

"I won't! Because you won't let yourself."

Raven rolls his eyes and tries to hide his amusement. The little salamander has more faith than he ever will. He slaps him lightly on the back, "You go get some sleep at the inn we have a busy day ahead of us." Karol pulls away but he hesitates to leave, "I'll be right behind ya. These old gears aren't as fast as ya kids."

He doesn't say it- neither of them says it- but they think it.

The stars on Erd are so bright and beautiful and the air is cool and crisp. If only it wasn't so quiet. If only it would last.

**fel: i mean it**


End file.
